Our Funding Process
We invest seed funding and services for startups in exchange for some equity in the business and/or revenue share.
Because we serve young, first time entrepreneurs, we provide some special services in addition to seed funding to meet their needs:
Full-Time Employment: Startup Graduate School
What you may call entrepreneur, the rest of the world calls "unemployed." The fact is, to most of the functioning adult world, you are your job. Of course, we know better, but don't expect to be treated like a unique individual when applying for a car loan.
The biggest problems of our graduate and student entrepreneurs are the most trivial: health insurance, rent, student loan payments, building a credit history, building an employment history, basic living expenses, transportation, car insurance, etc. etc. This is silly: how can one think big when distracted by chores?
We solve this problem by "employing" you at Ventures ByIQ to work full time on your startup. You will earn a salary and have health insurance, an office, and title, and you still own your own intellectual property. Being an "employee" of Ventures ByIQ is suspiciously like seed funding paid in bi-weekly increments, except to the office grinds with whom you sometimes must do business (or your parents), you appear to be a gainfully-employed member of the American economy —not a "credit risk."
Mentoring and Access
As a Ventures ByIQ company, you will have access to experienced entrepreneurs, technologists, business executives, hackers, and investors. Learn from the mistakes of others and confer with veterans vested in your success. Our funding program helps start your professional network as an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
Operational Assistance
You can't do everything, yet the success of your business depends on a base level of operational resources and expertise. These operations like IT, office management, accounting, and legal hygiene may be mundane, but neglecting them could kill your business.
Ventures ByIQ pools these operations together and professionally manages them as part of our investment offering. As investors, we don't want to see a good idea killed by something as lame as a misfiled form or lost email —and certainly, neither do you.
Community
As the American social life derives primarily from school and work, founding a startup can be prohibitively isolating. Within Ventures ByIQ, we provide a network of other young, intelligent, motivated entrepreneurs like you with whom you may discuss ideas and socialize. Technical skills are important, but leadership comes from social skills, and social skills come from practice. World domination isn't likely while browsing 4chan. (Ventures ByIQ is a "World of Warcraft Free Zone.")
